E3 2013 Monday and Tuesday MMO Recap

Tuesday arrived and we kicked things off by meeting up with David Godwin, CEO of Sneaky Games, the company behind our recently reviewed titles Legacy of A Thousand Suns (mobile) as well as Arena of Heroes (Turn-Based MOBA). We had a chance to snag a sneak peak at what’s going on behind the scenes on Arena of Heroes including major bug fixes, fixing some issues with players losing synchronicity during matches, and learned more about their plans for future updates.

According to David, Arena of Heroes fans can expect to see a new skins added weekly and a new hero launched every second week. They’re also busy at work preparing for the European launch of the game, currently slated for June 27th. Ouya fans should also be on the lookout for this to launch as one of the hand-held console’s flagship titles! Those that dislike the simple 1v1 system can also look forward to soon experiencing 2v2 and 4v4 maps once they iron out the game length issues and make the overall system flow better. This will be done with simultaneous movement mechanics as well as features that allow players to take over for their teammate’s heroes should a teammate disconnect or quit during a match. You will also be able to draw on the map to quickly convey tactics and strategies to your teammates.

Futhermore, Runes and Mastery systems are on the way including ones that will influence both individual heroes as well as your team of heroes. In the distant future they also envision testing out new maps but want to focus on getting game balance right long before any official word on this. While working on this, Sneaky Games is also looking into softening the blow of first blood to lessen the current snowballing that’s been occurring in many matches. In addition they’re adding an HP buff across the board to make the heroes a bit more durable. One final piece of information we garnered was that they are considering adding mobs and other highly prized control points in the center of the map to create tension and new strategies on longer more even battles.